Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.

In a large bowl, place the cream cheese, butter, eggs, and vanilla, and beat well with a mixer or by hand. Add the vanilla cake mix & sugar and mix by hand until just combined. The dough will be thick. Add the optional chocolate chips and mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Divide the dough into portions of about 1 1/2 tablespoons each (or about 2 teaspoonsful for smaller cookies) onto the prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cookies are just beginning to brown on the underside and the edges. For larger cookies, that takes about 14 minutes. For smaller cookies, about 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool until set on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies freeze amazingly well, so they can easily be made ahead of time. Just freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet before piling them into a freezer-safe container.